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Academic Achievement Program

The Academic Achievement Program within the Chapman University Fowler School of Law is designed to minimize the confusion and frustration many first-year law students experience by offering the following:

one-on-one faculty mentoring

undergraduate-to-graduate transition workshops

Essay-writing workshops in the 1L substantive law subjects

Additional instruction from advanced students (Academic Fellows)

Bar Exam Preparation

Such assistance helps students unlock the potential within them to achieve academic success in school, pass the bar exam, and become productive attorneys.

Mentoring and Workshops

Professor Mario Mainero, the Executive Director of Bar Preparation and Academic Achievement for the Fowler School of Law, is available to meet with individual students to address their academic needs and progress. Moreover, Professor Mainero conducts a series of four workshops in skills designed to help first-year students transition from undergraduate school to law school. These workshops cover such diverse topics as course outlining, stress and time management, preparation for exams and exam writing. In addition, the Academic Achievement Program also presents weekly sessions in exam writing for the specific first year substantive subjects beginning just before midterms and lasting through final exams, both semesters.

Academic Fellows

In addition, advanced students serve as Academic Fellows for the first-year law courses, as well as Evidence, Federal Income Tax, Corporations, and Constitutional Law, subject to faculty approval. The Academic Fellows hold office hours once each week in the fall and spring semesters during which they are available to respond to student questions. The Academic Fellows also lead review sessions, and hand out exercises in the substantive law subjects for feedback on writing and substance, designed to improve students’ exam writing skills. Participation in the review sessions is open to all students, and first-year students are strongly encouraged to attend these sessions regularly.

Bar Exam Preparation

The Academic Achievement program helps Fowler School of Law students succeed, not only in law school, but also on the bar examination. We have designed and instituted a full program of Bar Preparation whose purpose is to fully and adequately prepare students for the California Bar Examination. This program has two major components: two (2) for-credit courses (“Select Topics in American Law” and “Legal Analysis Workshop”) and a Supplemental Bar Preparation Program offered free to all Chapman students in the two months before the bar exam. For further details on these programs, please see our Bar Preparation Program.

Did you know...

The Academic Achievement Center offers numerous workshops and presentations, like the Bar Examination Preparation Kickoff for Graduating Students, How to Prepare Outlines, Time and Stress Management, and Academic Advising for 2Ls. Get your Bar Exam, class planning, and general law school achievement questions answered at these workshops.